we are very proud of the work he is doing and the work he does with his union but the thing i am most proud of is the fact that he has triplets and he is still standing. [applause] i had a chance to meet his wonderful wife. triplets. that is serious. you cannot play man-to-man defense. [laughter] you have to go into a zone. so we are very proud of him and we also have your outstanding mayor in the house. [applause] it is great to see all of you. thank you. thank you. now, you may have heard that there is an election going on.

[applause] and over the past couple of weeks, each side has been able to make its case. they had their thing down in tampa, we had our thing in charlotte. and now just 15 days from now, ohio starting on october 2, you guys can start voting and you have a big choice to make. i honestly believe this is the clearest choice in any time a in a generation. it is not as between two candidates or political parties but a choice between two fundamentally different visions for how we move forward as a country. and our vision, our fight, as for the basic bargain that built the greatest middle class on earth and the strongest economy the world has ever known. it is a bargain that says if you

work hard, that hard work will pay off. that responsibility will be rewarded. that everybody should get a fair shot. everybody should do their fair share. everybody should play by the same rules from a street to wall street to washington, d.c. [applause] four years ago i ran for president because i thought that basic bargain was eroding. too many jobs getting shipped overseas. too many families struggling with everything from groceries to gas and college of healthcare. racking up more and more debt to keep up with expenses because paychecks were not going up the way costs were. and then because of bad debt, it may think that much harder when that house of cards collapsed in worst recession since the great depression. we saw millions of americans

lose their jobs, homes, life savings. and we're still fighting to recover from that tragedy. the other side, they are more than happy to talk about what it is wrong with america. they will not tell you how it started. but they are happy to talk about what is wrong. they do not do much to tell you what they are going to do to make it right. they want your votes but they do not want to tell your their plan. the reason is because the plan they have is the same one they have been offering for the decades. tax cuts, tax cuts, gut a few regulations and then let's try some more tax cuts. tax cut in good times. tax cuts in bad times. tax cuts when we are at peace

and tax cuts when we are at war. you want to make a fight? you do not need the new iphone, try a tax cut. [laughter] want to drop a few extra pounds? try a tax cut. they have one answer for everything. i have cut taxes, too. for folks who need it. [applause] middle-class families, you are paying about $3,600 less in federal taxes since i had been president. i cut taxes for the middle-class like a promise. small businesses, i have cut taxes 18 different times. but i do not think another round of tax breaks for millionaires will bring good jobs back to ohio or pay down our deficit.

i sure did not believe firing teachers are teaching students off of financial aid will help grow our economy or compete with countries like china producing engineers and scientists. after all the we have been through, does anybody believe that rolling back regulations on wall street are somehow going to help the small businesswoman in cincinnati expand or the construction worker who has been laid off? we have been there, we have tried that. we are not going back. we are not going back. [applause] we are not going back to trickle-down. we are not going back to top down, you are on your own economic. we are not going to tell folks that you are on your own because we believe we are all in this together. we do not think the economy grows from the top down. we think it grows from the middle out. from the strong middle-class.

strong working families. when people are doing well in the middle, then everybody does well. what happens when you have a little more money in your pocket? you spend it. and that means businesses have more and make more profits. then they hire more workers. and we get a virtuous cycle going on. going forward, we are not going backwards. we are moving forward. that is what this election is about. [applause] i want you to know, cincinnati, i have never promised that the path we are on will be quick or easy. as delaware -- as bill clinton reminded us at the convention, it will take more than a few years to solve challenges that have built up over decades.

but let me tell you something, i know we will get there. when i hear some of these folks in the other party talk about the nation in decline, they are dead wrong. we still have the best workers in the world. lee had the best entrepreneurs and the best businesses in the world. we have the best scientists and researchers in the world. we have the best colleges and universities in the world. there is not a country on earth that would not trade places with the united states of america. our problems can be solved and our challenges can be met. the past the offer may be hard but it leads to a better place. i am asking you to choose that future. i am asking you to rally around a set of goals to create new manufacturing jobs here in ohio. to build on what we have already done terry to create a new energy strategy for america. building on what we have already done.

to improve education and bring down our deficit. turn the page on a decade of war. that is what we can do in the next four years, cincinnati. that is what i am running for a second term as president of the united states of america. [applause] crowd: four more years! and what everybody to be clear -- the goals we have set our concrete and they are achievable. first part of the plan is to export more products and outsourced fewer jobs. after a decade of decline, this country has not created over half -- now graded over half a million new manufacturing jobs in the last two and a half years.

a lot of them here in ohio. when some of these other folks said which of the detroit go bankrupt, when this abbas to walk away from an industry that supports one in eight jobs in ohio, i said we are not going to go that way. andbet on american workers three years later, the american auto industry has come roaring back with nearly 250,000 jobs. [applause] now you have a choice. we can give more tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas or we can start rewarding corporations and companies that offer up new plants and for our creating new jobs might here in ohio, right here in the united states of america. right here. i understand my opponent has been running around ohio.

crowd: boo! don't boo, vote. vote. but he has been running around ohio claiming he is going to roll up his sleeves and take the fight to china. [laughter] now, here is the thing -- his experience has been owning companies that were called pioneers in the business of outsourcing jobs to countries like china. he made money investing in companies that up routed from here and went to china. pioneers. ohio, you cannot stand up to china when all you have done is send them our jobs.

you can talk a good game, but i like to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. [applause] in my experience has been waking up every single day and doing everything i can to make sure american workers get a fair shot a in the global economy. when other countries do not play by the rules, we have done something about it. we bought more trade cases against china in one term than the previous administration did in two. and every case we have brought that has been decided, we won. when governor romney says that stopping unfair surges in chinese tires would be bad for america, we ignored his advice

and got over 1000 americans back to work, creating tires right here in the united states. [applause] earlier this year, i said that a new task force to go after on fair trade practices that harm our workers. and it has already delivered. 2 months ago, we moved to hold china accountable. these subsidies that directly harm working men and women on the assembly lines in ohio and michigan and across the midwest. your senator has fought as hard as anybody to stop this and we are going to stop it. it is not right. it is against the rules and we

will not let it stand. [applause] american workers build better products than anybody. made in america means something. let andrew said, when the playing field is level, america will always win. but what we need is folks who actually walk the walk, not just talk the talk. we do not need folks who during election time suddenly are worrying about trade practices. but before the election, are taking vantages of unfair trading practices. ohio, if you stand with me, if you choose the path we're talking about, we are going to help bring factories and small businesses -- experts and will sell more goods around the world stamped with made in america and create 1 million new manufacturing jobs in the

next four years. we can do that. but i need your help. [applause] that is not all we are going to have to do to rebuild our economy. we have to train our workers. that is why the second part of my plan is to get more americans the chance to earn the skills they need to compete. education was the gateway of opportunity for me, for michelle, and it is the gateway of opportunity for a lot of you. andrew right now is getting to get his degree with help from pell grants that we expanded because the understand that even though he is doing well now, we constantly have to build up our skills. it is the gateway to a middle- class life. we said let's get the money

directly to students and we have been able to help millions more young people get an education. [applause] so, you have a choice. the other side, you look at their budget. they are proposing to gut education to pay for more tax breaks for the wealthy. that is one pass. i am offering a different path. we can decide no child should have their dreams deferred because of an overcrowded classroom. am asking you to help me

recruit 100,000 new math and science teachers in the next 10 years. and improve early shot of education. -- childhood education. workers a chance to learn this suppose they need at community colleges that will lead directly to a job. let's work with colleges and universities to keep tuition down. to cut in half the tuition costs over the next 10 years. together. choose. third thing -- i have a plan to control more of our own energy. after 30 years of inaction, we raised fuel efficiency standard so by the middle of the next decade, your cars and trucks will go twice as far on a gallon of gas. that helps our national security and our environment. and that will save you money. and it helps our environment.

we have double the amount of renewable energy. thousands of americans have jobs today building went turbines and long-lasting batteries. -- wind turbines and long- lasting batteries. we are less dependent on foreign oil than at any time in the last two years. you have a choice. between plan to repurchase this -- that reverses this progress or one that built on it. as long as i'm president, i will not begin our not let oil properties right in this country's energy plan and i will not let them keep collecting $4 billion in tax payer funds in corporate welfare. we have a better path. we will keep investing in wind and solar and clean coal technology. we will help farmers harness new biofuels. let's put construction workers back to work rebuilding our

homes and factories so they waste less energy. we've got to develop a nearly hundred-year supply of natural gas beneath our feet. we can do it in a way that is safe. if you choose this path, we can cut our oil dependence in half by 2020. and we can support about 600,000 new jobs in natural gas alone. that is a plan for the future, not a plan looking backward. [applause] number four, we will reduce our deficit without sticking it to the middle class. [applause] i put forward a plan that will reduce our deficit by $4 trillion. you don't have to take my word for it --an independent analysis has looked at this. just in case you are skeptical,

we have got real numbers behind it. i have worked with republicans in congress to already cut $1 trillion in spending, and we're willing to do more. i do not want a government that is wasting money. it has to make sure it is focused on the people that are working hard, but need a ladder up. that has to be lean and mean. there are programs that do not work. but has to be focused on things we need to grow. i want to reform the tax code so it is simple and fair. i have done my own taxes. i do not know about some of these other folks, but i have done mine. [laughter] [applause] i know we can make this a more simple and fair system, but we have to ask the wealthiest households to pay a little bit more on incomes over $250,000,

the same rate we had when bill clinton was president, the same rate when the economy created nearly 23 million new jobs, the biggest surplus in history, and we helped millionaires to boot. if we are helping middle-class families, what happens? money. middle out, not top down. my opponent has a plan when it comes to taxes. as president clinton pointed out,one thing is missing from it -- arithmetic. [applause] they talk about -- they say the most important thing we have to do is reduce the deficit. then the first thing they do is to spend trillions of dollars

more on tax breaks for the wealthy. not just the bush tax cuts. on top of the bush tax cuts, $5 trillion more. they must have skipped math class when they were in school. [laughter] that math does not add up. whenever you ask them to explain the plan, they will not. they will not say how they will pay for $5 trillion in new tax cuts. sometimes this money gets all mixed up, millions, billions. $5 trillion over 10 years means $500 billion every year. $500 billion is about the amount of our entire defense budget. everything we spend on our military -- everything --

troops, planes, carriers -- it is about $500 billion. they are saying they are going to give a tax cut equivalent to our entire defense budget every single year. they cannot tell you how they are going to pay for it. and the truth is they cannot pay for it without raising taxes on middle-class families. but then on top of that, they want to spend another $2 trillion in new military spending, they say, without adding to the deficit, but they do not tell you how they are going to do that. the only thing they can do is keep trying to bluff their way through until november, and hope that you will call them on it. -- that you will not call them on it. but understand, cincinnati, i want to work with them to reduce the deficit. i have said --if the republicans

need more love, if they want me to walk the dog or wash their car, i am happy to do it. [laughter] and i genuinely believe that most americans -- they just want us to solve problems. so i am ready and willing to work. but i refuse to ask middle-class families to pay over $2,000 more so that millionaires and billionaires can pay less. [applause] i refuse to cut clean energy investment and put 125,000 clean-energy jobs here in ohio at risk just to give me or romney a tax cut. i refuse to ask more than 365,000 of students to pay more for college or take children out of head start programs or

eliminate health insurance for millions of americans who are poor or elderly or disabled just to pay for a tax cut for wealthy folks who do not need it. [applause] and i will never turn medicare into a voucher. [applause] you know, folks have worked hard their whole lives. they should not be spending their golden years at the mercy of an insurance company. they should retire with dignity and respect, and, yes, we have to reform and strengthen medicare, but we have to do it by reducing the cost of health care, not by dumping the costs on to seniors. the same thing with social

security. we will keep the promise of social security by taking responsible steps to strengthen it, but we will not turn it over to wall street. now, rebuilding our economy is essential, but our prosperity at home is linked to our policies abroad, and current events remind us of that. four years ago, i promised to end the war in iraq, and we did. [applause] i said it is time for us to wind down the war in afghanistan, and we are. [applause] we have got a new tower rising above the new york skyline, even as al qaeda is on the path to defeat and osama bin laden is dead. [applause] what happened this past week underscores that we still face threats in the world. we cannot pull back.

we have to stay engaged and involved for our security. we have to remain vigilant. that is why so long but as i am commander in chief we will have the strongest military that the world has ever known. [applause] we will do what is required to keep our personnel safe around the world, and when our troops come home, when they take off their uniforms, we will serve them as well as they have served us, because in america no one should to fight for a job or a roof over their heads when they come home if they have fought for america. [applause] again, you have a choice because my opponent said it was tragic for me to end the war in iraq. he will not tell us how he is going to end the war in afghanistan. while he wants to spend more

money on military programs that our joint chiefs say will not keep us safer, i will use that money that we are no longer spending on war to pay down our debt and to put more people back to work rebuilding some of these bridges around cincinnati, rebuilding schools and runways. after a decade of war, it is time to do is a nation-building here at home. [applause] that is the choice you face. that is what this election comes down to. 50 days and you will start making that choice. -- 15 days and you will start making that choice. over and over again we have been told by our opponent that their way is the only way, that if government cannot do everything, they should do nothing. if a company is polluting the

air your children breathe, that is the price of progress. if you cannot afford health insurance, hope you don't get sick. if you cannot afford to start a business or go to college, borrow money from your parents. [crowd boos] don't boo. vote. you know what? that is not who we are. that is not what this country is about. as americans, we insist on personal responsibility. we insist on individual initiative. we cannot help folks who are not even trying to help themselves. nobody is entitled to success. we believe in somebody who is starting a business, the drivers, the dreamers, the risk takers who drive our economy. that is what we believe in, and the free enterprise system, the greatest energy for prosperity,

-- the greatest engine for prosperity that we have ever known but we believe in this country as citizens we accept certain obligations to each other and to future generations. as citizens, we understand america is not just what can be done for us, it is what can be done by us together as one nation, as one people. [applause] all of you understand that. the election four years ago was not about me. it was about all of you. it was about us. you are the reason that there is a cancer survivor in medina who can afford their health care plan. that covers pre-existing conditions, you made that happen. you did that. you are the reason that young man in columbus whose mother worked three jobs to raise him can afford to go to college.

that is because of you. you are the reason a young immigrant who grew up here and went to school here and pledged allegiance to our flag will not be deported from the only country that she has known as home. [applause] you are the reason we don't do don't ask don't tell. you are the reason that thousands of families around this country are able to say to the ones who bravely served, welcome home. you made that happen. cincinnati, you can turn back now. -- you cannot turn back now. if you buy into the cynicism that says change is not possible, then change does not happen. if you give up on the idea that your voice matters, and somebody -- then somebody else fills the void. else -- folks who are writing the $10 million checks cannot try to buy this election, that folks who are trying to make it harder to vote, washington politicians who want to make this is about who you can

marry, tell women they cannot make their own health care decisions, that is who will fill the void. [applause] only you can make sure that does not happen. only you can keep this country moving forward. it depends on you. it depends on you. you've got to register to vote before october 9. it depends on you to start showing up and voting october 2. if you do not know how to do it, look at that sign there. to go gottavote.com. find out how and when to vote. the thing is then you can spend the rest of your time getting other things -- the other folks to vote, because we have to come too far to turn back now.

we got too many good jobs to create. we got too much home-grown energy to create. we got great teachers to hire and schools to build. we have more troops to come home and more veterans to care for. we got more doors of opportunity to open for everybody who is willing to work hard, everybody who is willing to walk through those doors. we have got to make sure this is a country where in america, no matter what you look like, no matter where you come from, the matter what your last name is, you can make it if you try. [applause] that is why i am asking for a second term, ohio, and if you are willing to stand with me and knock on some doors for me, and make some phone calls for me, and vote for me, we will win ohio. [applause] we will win this election. we will finish what we started.

and we will remind the world what the united states of america is the greatest nation on earth. god bless you, and god bless the united states of america. [applause] ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> mitt romney responded to comments by president obama about china and he brought out his five point economic plan. [applause] >> thank you so much for that warm introduction. and for all your help and supportand congratulations to christina as well. thank you. good to be here.

-- good to be home. i have a son here. and a grandson. hi, guys. [applause] it is an honor to be your guest and speak to you as we begin national hispanic heritage month. i am pleased to represent the party of governor susana martinez and marco rubio and ted cruz. [applause] these leaders are republicans for the same reasons as millions of other hispanics. they see ours is the party of opportunity, the party that will restore america's prosperity. at our convention, governor martinez described that experience that is so familiar. at the beginning of her career she was a democrat, and she got an invitation to go to lunch

with a couple of republicans. the words "democrat" and "republican" did not come up. they talked about issues, such as how to keep welfare from becoming a burden to work. and how much government is needed because it becomes a burden to small businesses. when the lunch was over,she said, "i'll be darned, we are republicans." [laughter] i like to hear stories like that. i would like to hear them more often. i am convinced the republican party is the right home of hispanic americans, but my speech today is not about my party. it is about the country we love and the future we want to build. during the course of the campaign i have traveled across the country, seeing people who have fallen into poverty, living paycheck to paycheck, people who are tired of being tired. over 23 million americans are out of work. the number of people on food

stamps has risen by almost 15 million since president obama took office. median household income has fallen four years in a row. seeing such a poor jobs and income picture, the federal reserve has announced it will print more money. the fed knows this comes with a high cost and risk for the future. it feels it has no other choice. our leaders in washington have failed to produce a real recovery. no one is exempt from the pain of this economy, but the hispanic community has been particularly hard hit. while national unemployment is at 8.1%, hispanic unemployment is over 10%. over 2 million more hispanics are living in poverty today than the day president obama took office. in 2008, candidate obama promised us a world of limitless hope.

what we got instead is a world where hope has painful limits, limits that make it hard to start a business, to grow business, or to find a job. the administration promised us that its policies would have brought unemployment down to 5.4% by now. they have not. unemployment is still above 8%, and the difference between the 5.4% they promised and the 8% unemployment rate we have is millions. -- is 9 million americans not working. i expected the president at his convention would talk about the unemployed and unveil a jobs plan. astonishingly, he didn't. i have a plan, and my plan for a stronger middle class will create 12 million new jobs by the end of my first term, and it will raise take-home pay.

my plan is premised on the condition it is freedom that drives our economy, that free people creating free enterprises is what creates the jobs with good wages. government supports the job creators, but it cannot take their place. my plan has five key steps. first, we will take advantage of our oil, gas, and renewables to achieve north american energy independence. in eight years. that will not only give us the affordable energy we need, but also create nearly 4 million new jobs. it will bring manufacturing back to our country. [applause] second, we got to give our fellow citizens the skills they need for the jobs of today. we got to give our kids the education they need for the careers of tomorrow.

there are too many of our kids trapped in failing schools. as president, i will assure every child from every background receives quality education. i will empower the parents of our low-income and special- needs students to choose where they go to school. at the same time we will jump- start our economy by expanding trade with latin america, and hispanic businesses will have the most to gain. president obama has not initiated a single new trade agreement with latin america. i will. i will pursue a comprehensive strategy to confront china's unfair trade practices and do

that from day one. [applause] the president may think that announcing a new trade lawsuit will distract from his record. american businesses and workers struggling on an uneven playing field know better. if i found it took only to run an ad, i would have done one a long time ago. fourth, we have got to cut the deficit and put america on track to a balanced budget. [applause] i believe it is immoral for us to spend more than we take in and to pass our debts on to our kids. i like to spend some time talking about this issue. as businessmen and businesswomen and as hispanics, you understand the threat his spending poses for our future.

many hispanics have sacrificed to help build our country and economy and a brighter future for their children. today those sacrifices are being put at risk. by a president who just can't stop spending. the president likes to claim he will reduce the deficit by $4 trillion. what he does not tell you is it is included in that figure over $1 trillion of cuts that have already been put in place where he is cutting deficit reduction for 12 years. that includes five years after he leaves office, even if he were to be reelected. under president obama, federal spending peaked at 25% of the total economy. that is a level we have not seen since world war ii. i propose to being spending back its historic levels, and i will pursue a 5% cut in non- security discretionary spending on my first day in office.

it is time for a president who is committed to cutting spending, and i know how to do that. i have done it before. we have balanced my budget in my business and at the olympics and every year in my state. [applause] i will put the government on track to a balanced budget by eliminating programs, eliminating programs that are not absolutely essential, and cutting subsidies for things like amtrak and the corporation for public broadcasting and the legal services corporation and the national endowment for the arts and humanities. i like some of those things, by the way, but we cannot afford them. my test for each program is this -- is the program so critical it is worth borrowing money from china to pay for it? if not, i will cut it off. [applause]

in addition i will send a number of programs that have been growing uncontrollably fast back to the states, limit their rate of growth to the rate of inflation. i will look to sharply increase the productivity of washington by reducing federal government employment by 10% through attrition by combining departments, to reduce the overhead, by cracking down on the $115 billion a year in improper payments to the government programs, and also [laughter] [applause] align government compensation with that in the private sector. you do those things that i just described and reduce federal spending by $500 billion a year by the end of my first term. the president i am convinced has put us on a road to greece. i will put us back on the road

to a stronger america. one which stop spending more than we take in. [applause] number five, and you will find this of interest, to get this economy creating the jobs we need an more take-home pay, we have to champion in this country small business. i started a business myself. [applause] we began with 10 people. today it employs hundreds of people. our business was investing to help turn around or grow or to start up other small businesses. today, over 100,000 people work at companies that we helped start, companies like staples, the sports authority. small businesses often grow into large businesses. 2/3 of american jobs created

over the last 15 years were created by small business. i know small business. not because i studied it at school, but because i lived small business. i know that small businesses are being crushed by this administration's policies. too often regulators treat businesses like they are the enemy and crush them with an avalanche of regulations. large businesses can deal with that, but small businesses cannot. and there are taxedi met an entrepreneur in the as. electronic industry in st. louis who said that he and his son had gone through a calculation to determine how much they paid to the government, in federal income taxes, payroll taxes, state income taxes, gasoline taxes, sales taxes, and real estate taxes. it amounted to over half of what their business earned. over half. you think about that. the likelihood of success of a small business is not real high, and if you are successful,

the government wants to take more than half. no wonder business startups are at a 30-year low. the president plans to raise the federal income tax on small businesses even more to 40%. that will kill about 700,000 jobs. we need more jobs, not less. a recent study concluded that my plan which reduces the tax rate on small business will instead create 7 million jobs. let me talk about obama care. the chamber of commerce surveyed 13 of its members and found that 3/4 of them said they are less likely to hire people because of "obamacare." i know we need health care reform but obama care is the wrong way to go about it. that will replace consumer choice with government choice

and will cause health insurance premiums to skyrocket. it is already depressing job creation. i will repeal "obamacare" and replace it. with reforms that increased choice, slowed down the runaway growth of insurance costs, and opened the doors to more new jobs. [applause] if we do those five things,if we take advantage of our energy resources at home and we fix our schools and open more trade and we cut the deficit and we truly champion small business, our economy will come roaring back. we can do better than this lackluster economy. we can create 12 million jobs and rising take-home pay. my confidence comes from the entrepreneurs i met across the country. we're in a room full of them right here.

in 1988, a person founded a spanish-language weekly, and she became an expert in search- engine marketing and she turned it into an on-line powerhouse. we're joined by another successful entrepreneur, who oversees one of the nation's top construction management firms. she has been collecting so many awards that we're lucky she did not have a conflict today. [laughter] i happen to believe that entrepreneurs like martha and doreen are the future for america. i believe the credit for their work goes to them, not the government. i sure do not believe the government should take more of what they earn away from them. this is at the heart of the difference between president obama and my vision for the future of america's economy.

he wants government to tax more and regulate more because he believes government can do a better job than you can. i believe in you. i believe you can do a better job than government. i believe -- [applause] i am confident you and your dreams and your freedoms will build a stronger future for all of us and for our children. this belief in free people and free enterprise that is the american heritage. it is why americans outperformed economically over every nation on earth. i want to say a word about immigration. americans may disagree about how to fix our immigration system, but we can agree is broken. for years, republicans and democrats have been more interested in playing politics with immigration than fixing it. candidate obama said one of his

highest priorities would be to fix immigration in his first year in office, with his party having majorities in both houses of congress. the president never even offered up a bill. like so many issues confronting our nation, when it comes to immigration, politics have been going on for too long. i will work with republicans and democrats to permanently fix our immigration system. we will never achieve a legal system that is efficient if we do not get control our borders. what we need are fair and enforceable immigration laws that will stem the flow of illegal immigration while strengthening legal immigration. i want to make the system for more simple and transparent. you should not have to hire a lawyer to find out how to legally emigrate to the united states.

[applause] i want to shift our diversity to bring together immediate family members and i want to structure our temporary worker visa programs so these meet the needs of our employers. if someone gets an advanced degree, i want them to stay here, so i will give them a green card with a diploma. [applause] america is a nation of immigrants, and immigration is essential to our economic growth and prosperity. 1 million immigrants legally enter america every year, the largest number of any country in the world. i like that. i want to preserve our heritage of robust legal immigration, and i want to make sure those who abide by the law and wait in line and do so legally are not at a disadvantage.

that is why i oppose amnesty because amnesty will make it harder to strengthen our legal immigration system. it is why my administration will establish an employment verification system so every business can know whether the people who are hired are legally eligible. there will be strict penalties for the businesses that do not. in the midst of the campaign, president obama created a stopgap measure for children who through no fault of their own. i will pursue permanent immigration reform and i will start by insuring those who serve and our military had the opportunity to become legal permanent residents their country. [applause] residents of the country they fought to defend. those who have risked their lives have earned a right to make their life in america.

[applause] i spoke about my father, who was born to american parents living in mexico. when he was 5, they left everything behind and started over again in the united states. my dad grew up poor. he believed in a country where the circumstances of one's birth were not a barrier to achievement, a place where hard work could turn dreams into reality. he went from selling paint out of the trunk as his car to becoming the chief executive of a great car company, and ultimately to become the governor of the state of michigan. my wife's father was a first- generation immigrant, and he ended up founding a manufacturing company. that made components and equipment for ships for the united states navy.

many of you in this room have similar stories. that is the american story, one that is told over and over and over again, the story of the american dream. the american dream is not gone. it has just been put a little further from us. i know what it takes to bring it back, to have inspired our fathers and mothers, who sacrificed so much that we could have as part of our lives, and now it is our turn, a responsibility to restore the opportunity and prosperity and dreams that have invigorated this nation from its beginning, and is a responsibility we will fulfill together. thank you so very much. god bless you, and god bless the united states of america. thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

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♪ >> the country faces the starkest choice for president in my memory. you see, the president and i have fundamentally different vision than governor romney and congressman ryan. and a different value said guides us. >> under the current president, we are at risk of becoming a poor country. because he looks to government as a great benefactor in every life. opponent has a new model -- basic government is the only thing we all belong to. i don't know about you but i have never thought of government as something that i belong to.

>> japan and engage with cspan as the campaigns move toward the october debate -- watch and engage with cspan as the campaigns move toward the october debate. follow our coverage on cspan, cspan radey of, and online at c- span.org >> in just over two weeks, the first to the presidential debates live on c-span, cspan radey of, and c-span.org. coming up live today on c-span, "washington journal." at 10:30, the cato institute boasts a form on the supreme court possible terms. coming up at two o'clock 30 eastern, a former burmese political prisoner talks about her work and relations between

her country and the u.s. at 5:30 p.m. eastern, the atlantic council hears from a marine commandant. to date on c-span 2, the oregon governor talks about health care costs while improving care. he says the center for american progress. also on c-span 2 at 1:00 p.m. eastern, a cato institute forum on the supreme court 2011-2012 term including a look at property rights and the impact of surveillance and immigration. live coverage starts at 1:00 p.m. eastern on c-span 2. coming up in 45 minutes on "washington journal," representative don edwards of maryland heads th